Visual Archetypes of
Indian Geodemographic
Clusters

## Visual Archetype: High Deprivation From satellite, this cluster presents as expansive tracts of dry, brown-to-ochre terrain — laterite plateaus, fallow fields, and seasonal riverbeds — punctuated by sparse forest patches on ridgelines and narrow ribbons of green along floodplains and reservoir margins, with settlements appearing as small, dispersed nucleations rather than consolidated towns. The high land fragmentation (5.0) paired with low road network density (3.3) and near-absent industrial infrastructure (1.3) reflects a landscape where subsistence and rain-fed agriculture dominates, physical connectivity to markets and services remains weak, and the built environment offers few visible markers of economic diversification — conditions that map directly onto chronic poverty, limited institutional reach, and low human development outcomes characteristic of India's most deprived tribal and flood-prone districts. Within-cluster variation is notable: Nuapada presents as rugged, forested hill country with reservoir-dependent agriculture, Pakur as semi-arid rocky terrain along seasonal watercourses, and Purnea as a relatively more urbanized floodplain district with an airstrip and peri-urban sprawl — suggesting that high deprivation manifests through geographically distinct pathways (tribal isolation, resource-poor geology, and flood-vulnerable plains) that nonetheless converge on similarly low levels of visible development.

## Cluster 1: Moderate Deprivation – Visual Archetype From satellite, this cluster typically presents as a small to moderate urban core surrounded by extensive agricultural patchwork in varying stages of cultivation, with fragmented landholdings (land fragmentation: 5.0) and limited industrial infrastructure (1.7), set against a landscape where vegetation cover is moderate but driven more by subsistence farming than planned greenery. The sparse road networks radiating from compact town centers, low urban density, and minimal formal infrastructure visually signal economies tethered to rain-fed or marginally irrigated agriculture, correlating with limited livelihood diversification, constrained service access, and the moderate deprivation outcomes characteristic of India's rural-agrarian heartland districts. Within-cluster variation is substantial: districts range from the green, riverine alluvial plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh—where water presence and dense field mosaics suggest productive but poverty-prone floodplain agriculture—to the sandy, near-barren expanses of western Rajasthan, where extreme aridity replaces fragmented fields and deprivation stems less from land pressure than from ecological scarcity, suggesting that distinct environmental pathways converge on similar socioeconomic outcomes.

## Cluster 2: Transitioning – Visual Archetype From satellite, these districts present a moderately dense urban core—typically grey-white and sprawling—anchored along a significant water feature (river corridor or lake) that shapes the city's spatial footprint, while the periphery dissolves into semi-arid, brown-toned terrain with fragmented agricultural parcels showing inconsistent cultivation. The moderate urban density (6.3) paired with low green urban space (2.3) and visible peri-urban fringe development suggests rapidly expanding cities where infrastructure and services are stretching to keep pace with growth, likely producing populations with improving but uneven access to healthcare, education, and formal employment—characteristic of districts in active demographic transition rather than established equilibrium. Within-cluster variation is notable: Bhopal's large lake and more radiating road network signal a more planned administrative capital with somewhat higher development, whereas Kurnool's organically grown settlement pattern along a meandering river and drier hinterland suggests a smaller city with weaker peri-urban infrastructure, meaning demographic outcomes likely range meaningfully across this cluster despite shared transitional characteristics.

## Visual Archetype: Better Developed From satellite, these districts present as established urban cores with high-density built-up fabric radiating outward from well-defined city centers, flanked by lateritic or exposed soil on peri-urban fringes where urbanization is actively consuming surrounding land. Prominent water features—whether Kerala's backwater networks, Tamil Nadu's historic tank systems, or Maharashtra's river corridors—thread through the urban mass, while road networks are extensive and industrial zones are clearly delineated, reflecting the economic infrastructure that supports higher employment diversity, stronger service-sector economies, and better health and education outcomes associated with mature secondary cities. Land fragmentation is notably high (6.7), with the dense irregular settlement patterns and visible pockets of informal housing suggesting that rapid in-migration and housing pressure coexist alongside development gains, tempering the uniformly positive demographic profile. Within-cluster variation is significant: Ernakulam's landscape is water-dominated with canal-laced settlement patterns reflecting Kerala's unique high-density-yet-dispersed urbanization model, while Pune and Coimbatore follow a more conventional concentric core-periphery gradient, meaning similar development outcomes emerge from visually distinct spatial configurations.